Turbulence
by BrokenHallelujahs
Summary: She was the only person alive in the world that she knew, and she could not remember her. Loneliness, it seemed, was not to be her only punishment.


Title: Turbulence  
Author: Broken Hallelujahs  
Fandom: Resident Evil  
Pairing: Alice/Claire  
Rating: T  
Summary: She was the only person alive in the world that she knew, and she could not remember her. Loneliness, it seemed, was not her only punishment.  
Disclaimer: Own not. Profit not. Sue not.

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"... I just hope the effects aren't permanent." Alice said, finally giving voice to the growing fear that had been nagging her since leaving Alaska.

_Alaska,_ she thought unhappily, _what the hell happened there? Did I send them to their deaths? K-Mart and the others? Is what's happening to Claire my fault too? Everything else seems to be._

She switched the camera off, content to let her thoughts on the matter be private from this point forward, and twisted around to check on her passenger. The red-head was asleep, or at least doing a good job faking, a frown turning down her lips.

Alice smiled, despite herself, glad that Claire was getting some rest and not still glaring at the back of her head. Even though she was suffering from amnesia the woman had not lost her fiery side. She was more like a caged animal in the backseat than the competent, albeit young, leader Alice had met. She didn't remember the convoy, the others, Vegas, none of it. Filthy, starved, drugged, and suffering from what appeared to be a clear case of PTSD, the Claire Redfield Alice remembered was buried, but hopefully not lost.

_A year and a half on her own. Is it any wonder she's like that? I mean, god Alice, remember what __**you**__ were like when you were on your own all that time?_

Getting Claire cleaned and changed had been a battle itself. Earning back her trust was going to be difficult. She'd barely managed to convince Claire that she just wanted to clean the grime off of her. Fortunately she hadn't fought too hard after that and had more willingly climbed into the airplane. Probably just desperate to get away from the veritable graveyard she'd been inhabiting. She stole another quick glance back at the other woman.

_She looks more like Claire now. My Claire_.

Alice shook her head against that thought. Painful as it was.

_She doesn't remember me. I'm not sure she even knows who __**she**__ is at this point._

True, there wasn't much to remember. But to Alice it had seemed to be the start of something. Claire had reached out to her in the Nevada desert, reached out and touched the part of Alice she'd been sure was dead. The human element. More and more she'd felt like a predator, her desire for human contact almost always ending in disastrous situations like the KLKB station. Decent 'people' seemed to be a thing of the past.

Until Claire Redfield.

She could remember, perfectly, her short time with Claire. It played out like a movie in her head, haunting her dreams and even her waking moments. The soft feel of her skin, the warmth of her body, the taste of her mouth. Desperation and a fear of the death that might be coming closer with the rising of the sun had been the driving factor in their coupling. There was no doubt of that. But as they crashed together in the back of Claire's Jeep something else had been present. Alice had felt it in the brushing of their fingers, the meeting of their eyes, before and even more so after. There was something else fueling them, something she couldn't define or explain, and that something had bound them together. All she knew was that she wanted to spend the rest of her life, however short it might be, waking up to Claire's sleepy blue eyes and smart mouth.

Alice touched her fingers softly to her own lips, chasing the phantom warmth away, and sucked in a deep breath, willing her heartbeat to slow back down. There was no point getting wrapped up in the past in her present situation. She would just have to be patient and hope that it would all be alright.

_For now, just be glad she's alive. She's __**alive**__ and safe and we're together again. I can keep her safe, I'll be damned if I let anyone hurt her again._

She looked back again, just in time to see Claire blinking awake, a moment of panic sweeping over her features before their eyes locked.

Alice didn't bother speaking, she'd already tried that and gotten nowhere fast. Her passenger was going to be silent until she chose differently.

_Maybe this is my punishment_, she mused, feeling the tension fill the plane again now that the other occupant was awake. _I'm not doomed to be the last person left alive, but the only person alive in this world that I know doesn't remember me. In the end that's just as lonely. Am I to remember the things that she never will? Always to be waiting for that moment when she looks at me like she did before?_

It was not exactly a cheery notion. Alice rolled her shoulders and wished Claire would say something, anything at this point, just to distract her.

"You're name is Alice, right?"

Relief flooded her and she smiled.

"She speaks."

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END

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